


Speaking without Tongues

by IndelibleDawn



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Deaf Character, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 07:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16035452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndelibleDawn/pseuds/IndelibleDawn
Summary: As a child, Gren does not have many people to talk to. Suddenly, a chance encounter leaves him with someone else to have a conversation with -- someone who doesn't expect anyone to ever communicate with her again.





	Speaking without Tongues

Gren didn’t talk much to the other kids in his village. It’s not because he didn’t enjoy talking; he did. His mother reminded him of that all the time. And his father. And his older brothers. And his older sister. Even his little, infant sister seemed to recognize he had no issue with talking, perhaps too much.

But with the village kids, there wasn’t much to talk about. His mother was a shield maiden, his father a ranger, and his eldest brother a member of the crown guard in Katalis. He came from a family of warriors, not farmers. And the village children spoke only of their farms. He knew nothing of farms. And they cared nothing for battle. What was there to talk about?

This left the young boy with very little to do. He was not yet old enough for battle training, but not young enough that idleness would have been allowed. Most days, he wandered the town square with a stick in hand, playing guardsmen and attacking each offending bush that dared threaten the townsfolk.

This wintery morn, however, days after the first flakes of snow began to fall, he noticed a more real danger to the members of the town: a slippery patch of ice near the entrance to the market. And exiting that market was a village elder, carrying enough parcels that she couldn’t see the ground in front of her feet. Dropping his stick, Gren began running towards the elder, shouting a warning. The elder continued along her path, however, and soon her foot slipped on the ice. She let out a sound of surprised fear, losing hold of her packages as she lost her balance, closing her eyes to brace herself for the blunt fall. 

Before she could land, however, two small but strong arms caught her shoulders and slowly helped her back to standing. She opened her eyes to see a young, red-headed, freckled boy grabbing her fallen parcels.

Gren apologized as he picked up the elder’s packages, saying he should have called out sooner, that he should have noticed the ice sooner, that he could have attempted to break the ice so she wouldn’t have been able to slip on it. As he finally stood to face her, he stopped talking to see a sad grin on her face as she shook her head. She brought her index finger to her cheek near her ear and then moved it fluidly in an arc above her cheek to land next to her mouth. Gren paused, the look of confusion clear on his face.

The elder silently sighed, noticing the boys confusion. He couldn’t understand signing, then. Yet another person in the village to be ignorant to her voice. It should come as no surprise at this point. Not when the dark mages used their powers to “cure” those like her of their auditory ailments, so the population would not need to understand the language of their hands. The grin fell from her face entirely, and with silenced resignation, she reached out her hands for the parcels, but the boy didn’t move.

Gren tilted his head to the side, trying to decipher the situation. The elder had ignored his warning earlier. She had then shaken her head at him talking, pointing at her ear and then her mouth. She hadn’t spoken and wasn’t asking for her packages now as she reached out for them. Her eyes were bright, suggesting this was not due to the aging of her mind, but something else entirely. But… what? She had pointed, made a clear transition from ear to mouth, that had to mean something.

Suddenly the boy’s eyes widened and he straightened up. It had to mean something! This was like the guard code his brother had taught him where soldiers would gesture small signs to each other to convey meaning, like speaking, but silent in case danger was nearby.

But why speak silently? The square was empty; he had noticed on his scouting expedition earlier. No one could overhear the conversation. So why would she…

Gren looked at the elder, recognition in his eyes. He held eye contact as he said, and ineptly signed:

_You_

_No_

_Hear?_

Clumsy and completely incorrect as his attempt was, the elder began to tear up as she nodded and shook her fist up and down in a nod as well.

Finally, someone to talk to.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! Sorry this is so rushed and clunky, I just finished the series today and I got inspired and wrote all of this at like 3AM, so I'll probably go back and edit this before I continue further. I just had to write something about my poor baby, Gren.


End file.
